Exodus - Pleasures of the Flesh

I know that most folks prefer to jump on the aging, grey pubed and somewhat limp cock of 'Bonded by Blood',whereas I, have always preferred 'Pleasures of the Flesh' not too mention that I will not be jumping on any cocks, weathered or otherwise.

I do like 'Bonded by Blood', however it amazes me that in the ongoing quest to "out metal" everyone around them, most folks (aka-internet metalheads) "appear" to staunchly and ravenously claim their allegiance to Exodus debut while dismissing everything released afterward. Personally, I think these people are either A) full of shit, or B) un-fucking-ejamuhcated as 'Pleasures...' mercilessly blows away 'Bonded by Blood' on nearly all fronts. Granted, if you're an ancient fuck whose first experience with Exodus was indeed BBB back when it came out in 1985, then I can understand the rabid fanaticism. It's hard to get over one's first impression, regardless of what came afterward. To all of these internet dweebs who pour over Metal-Archives in a day or two and emerge shortly thereafter as some self proclaimed scholar of all things metal, I say to you, fuck off and die. These are the same lame-o motherfuckers who friend any and every has /never been metalhead musician on Facebook and Myspace like they're collecting Garbage pail Kids, eagerly lapping up every bit of information dribbled fourth from the lips and Cheeto stained fingertips of some patch clad and bespectacled Jabba who "used to" play bass for (enter name of super ultra obscure death.thrash band from nineteen ninety something here) and then proceed to flaunt every nugget of information extracted from Lord whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is over on Facebook all over the comments section of Youtube and back onto that concentration camp of retardation, Metal-Archives.

The fact of the matter is that Holt and Hunolt were on fucking fire on this album. The riff intricacies put to shame anything on BBB, not to mention that the primal aggression of that album is left intact and seamlessly transferred and incorporated into and alongside the bands growing technical precision. I guess the big difference here is in the vocals as Baloff had been kicked to the curb in favor of the equally nasally if not as maniacal and crazed sounding 'Zetro' Souza. Despite the recent fawning over Tom Hunting's drum technique all over the internet (undoubtedly due to the "nu" thrash metal phase), his contribution to this album and any other Exodus album that he appeared on for that matter is good and nothing more. Don't expect anything on the level of Hoglan or Lombardo here.

Original album art for Pleasures of the Flesh

Anybody who has half a clue as well as a level 2 or more understanding of guitar technique knows full well the godliness of Gary Holt, not to mention that Rick Hunolt aint no slouch either and 'Pleasures of the Flesh' truly showcases the best of their abilities up until that point and since. Unfortunately it had been a creative downward slide after the release of POTF though 'Fabulous Disaster', despite a few covers that were tacked on for shits and giggles, is not a bad album at all and even features a few of my all time favorite Exodus tracks including the absolutely killer thrashterpiece, 'Open Season'.

Fuck all of the dorks who, in their quest to gain Facebook "cool points" claim that Bonded by Blood is the be all end all Exodus album. POTF is where it's TRULY at. This was the pinnacle release of a band that never got the respect it deserved outside of the immediate metalhead community.